Giulia Napoleone in the Story of Her Books

Abstract

This essay reconstructs the history of Giulia Napoleone's art books, small volumes in single copies with poems transcribed by hand and illustrated with various techniques: a exercise which began in 1963 and which the public was able to get to know for the first time during the 2017 exhibition at the Central Institute of Graphics (Istituto Centrale per la Grafica), following a major donation from the Artist. These books testify to the special relationship that Giulia Napoleone has always had with poetry, a source of inspiration and reciprocity even for larger works, such as pictorial cycles or monographic exhibitions, which go beyond the book form. At the same time, these small private books are also seen as germinal cells of the larger books, printed in a limited number of copies by reputable international art publishers, and distinguished by an iconographic apparatus including unique engravings which vary from copy to copy.